Vikings Legacy Soft Launches With Eye To NFL Draft

The Minnesota Vikings have soft-launched a new campaign aimed at driving seat license prospects toward their new stadium, with an eye toward a full-media blitz prior to the NFL Draft on April 30-May 2, 2015.

The microsite program, called Vikings Legacy, is set to push out more information to its fanbase, as well as provoke prospects into booking appointments toward being a part of the new stadium when it opens in 443 days.

Prospects who book their appointments through the Vikings Legacy website will be entered into a contest to announce the Vikings’ draft pick selections on television during the 2015 NFL Draft, said Jason Gonella, Vice President of Van Wagner. Gonnella’s team has been hired by the Vikings to oversee sales operation efforts for the Vikings’ new stadium, as well as the new stadium project for the Atlanta Braves.

“We are just launching into the public sales arena now,” he said. “The first 13 months of our sales process was dedicated toward conversion; long-term season members with the club in the Metrodome, as well as folks who bought-in last year, into the new stadium priority seat process.”

Van Wagner is wrapping up the conversion phase by the end of April, promoting Vikings Legacy as the next step of the process.

Vikings Legacy Should Yield More Appointments

The Vikings Legacy component served as a way to tweak and determine motivational factors to generate more appointment bookings. Gonella estimates that Vikings Legacy should yield 500-600 appointments just off of the 2015 NFL Draft, and 50-to-150 appointments off of each business day in the weeks after.

The appointment feature on Vikings Legacy has a refined coordinating system of qualifying prospects as well. Once an online visitor books the appointment, one of the two Van Wagner’s sales directors assign the lead to a rep, who responds with a re-confirming e-mail or out-bound follow-up call to the prospect. The goal is to have the prospect show up at the Vikings’ sales center, and go over the entire seat licensing process in a one-on-one setting.

The Vikings also have a solution for those prospects living in the 4-to-5 state radius around Minnesota, where driving to the Twin Cities may take a couple of hours. Van Wagner has an online conference call solution for those prospects who want to avoid the long drive and are willing to do the appointment in a virtual setting in their home.

“Not everyone books their appointment right away, so reps also work with those prospects through e-mail and other direct marketing efforts to engage them,” Gonella said. “That also means following up with out-bound cold calls to people who are not booking through Vikings Legacy on their own.”

Hard Launch For Vikings Legacy Is 2015 NFL Draft

During the week leading up to the 2015 NFL Draft, The Vikings Legacy campaign will be kicked into high gear. Digital billboards approaching the Twin Cities will have a branded effort toward going to the site, as will the pedestrian skyways that connect Minneapolis downtown buildings, followed by a site-takeover of vikings.com, Gonella said.

The marketing effort will involve a heavy media blitz to promote the fact that the team is selling new stadium seat licenses very well, Gonella said.

Overall, the Vikings are at a 75 percent conversion basis currently. Factoring into that is a 25% base of season member renewals, which do not have seat license requirements, in the upper deck, thereby making them less obligated to make a commitment for two-years from now, he said.

“That factors into the conversion rate as much as anything,” Gonella said. “You always have folks sitting in less attractive seats or ones far away from the field, and they don’t need to buy a seat license to convert into the new stadium’s seats.”

The Vikings are educating our public that there are going to be opportunities for folks to buy into, especially for those who have never had tickets before, he said.

“The idea of ‘legacy’ is a play on the fact that our seat licenses are a 30-year team, so fans are setting themselves up for the life of the new stadium,” Gonella said. “It seems to logically fit from a perceptional standpoint that this is a legacy we’re talking about. If you’re a fan thinking about the new stadium, you should be thinking about your legacy with the Vikings.”

“Right now, the Vikings Stadium is about 2 1/2 to 3 times what San Francisco or Dallas experienced in terms of renewals for conversion over to a new stadium,” Gonella said. “That really has been a focus our program here and a critical part of it.”